Industry News

Compnet v3.1 Released

Surveying Horizons has announced CompNet v3.1, an upgraded release of one of Australia’s foremost network adjustment software packages, now ready for GDA2020.

With over 500 current licenses throughout the country, CompNet v3.1 is a complete quality control tool that provides the survey adjustment computations necessary to bridge field survey collection data with CAD design and mapping.

A major feature of CompNet v3.1 is the inclusion of GDA2020 projections. The software is now fully equipped to align data to the global reference frame in which all surveyors will soon be operating, bringing it towards closer alignment to global positioning systems such as the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). It also makes it very easy to convert existing surveys from MGA94 to MGA2020/ATRF.

Frank Smith, the Managing Director of Surveying Horizons Pty Ltd, is an experienced surveyor and author of the network adjustment surveying software. He has presented papers at various surveying conferences over many years, including AIMS conferences. In addition to the unique software he also provides extensive least squares adjustment training and support and general advice in the surveying industry.

At the very core of CompNet is least squares computations, the accepted processing methodology used in surveying for the adjustment and analysis of surveys. Least squares allows surveyors to utilise all observations in surveys, thereby increasing network redundancy and improving quality. It generates horizontal and vertical positional precision estimates relative to the surface baseline and permits closure estimates prior to underground break-through.

In a package such as CompNet, gyroscopic measurements may simply be inserted in the mine network adjustment. Adjustment by the method of least squares is the accepted process in the industry and is now demanded by regulatory standards.

Experienced mine surveyor and former AIMS Director Peter Sergeant has been a client of Frank's and an active user of CompNet."CompNet software is a rigorous network adjustment package which incorporates levelling, traversing and GNSS data to generate a least squares solution with statistical analysis and compliance reporting against ICSM SP1 standards," said Peter.

"Frank is an expert in precise survey network analysis and adjustment, especially those networks incorporating GNSS observations. He offers a range of consulting services aside from supporting his software and is always willing to consider modifications, improvements and customisations to better suit client's needs."

Registered Surveyor Troy Langley agrees. "Frank is a leading provider of Class Compliance software to the Surveying Industry, " said Troy. "Frank provides a priceless service to the mine surveying community who are required to establish compliance of their survey networks to the ICSM SP1 accuracy standards."

Some of the many organisations using the CompNet software include RMS NSW, Sydney Trains, MIM Copper, Glencore Coal, Centennial Coal, BHP Billiton and Newcrest Mining.

An initial CompNet v3.1 license currently costs $960 AU and additional site licenses cost $780 AU. Included in the price is personalized initial least squares theory advice where required and ongoing software support without additional ongoing licensing fees. For current users of CompNet, the upgrade cost from CompNet v3.0 to CompNet v3.1 is $ 165 AU.